Premier League football returns to Lagos

I hope to see some investment happening there. It's a positive sign for Nigerian football to finally have two clubs in the country's financial capital. But with MFM's structure as a church-sponsored entity, I doubt they'll be a wealthy club unless they start selling shares to parishonors; which could actually be a good way to build a fanbase...

With Ikorodu, there's alot of things that I like. Their name is solid, although I would have preferred that they had named it simply 'Ikorodu' or 'Ikorodu-' with something other than United; maybe 'Ikorodu Oga' for example. United just doesn't seem to fit with such a potentially culturally-compelling potential. Anyways, beside liking the name, I like Onikan Stadium as a ground for a team that is trying to build a fanbase. In the video below it looks old, but it's well-kept (pitch looks better than the pitch at the brand new Godswill Akpabio Stadium often looks; which admittedly may simply be because that stadium is so new but I digress) , the stands are close to the pitch, it's relatively easy to fill in a city as large as Lagos if marketed and run properly. But once again, the stadium is well maintained... seating areas, gates, etc... It's a good place to launch a venture that wants to be seen as professional.



Another encouraging sign is that they went out and hired a foreign coach; and that's not to say that hiring a foreigner is better than hiring a good Nigerian coach. It's more about what it says about the level of investment that the club is willing to commit since hiring a foreign coach to come and live in Nigeria for months to run a domestic club is far more expensive than hiring domestic so it simply says that they're willing to spend money on the club regardless of how one feels about foreign managers.

Now, here's the but. At some point, in order to truly become a club worthy of Lagos, they will either have to move into Lagos National Stadium or build one of their own (potentially a 30k+ seater, football-only bc there's already a track stadium in Surulere). Looking up their owner and chairman, Adewunmi Ogunsanya, it's hard to really pin down his actual net worth. Although a lot of Nigerian publications call him a billionaire (and really how would they know, many Nigerians assume that I'm rich since I live in the US) but I've never seen him listed in Forbes or any international financial publication. His cv says that he's chairman of Multichoice Nigeria Limited and DStv, which is a branch of a corporation run out of South Africa. It's a successful company, but he doesn't own it and he is chairman of the Nigerian liscenced entity, not the international one. So he could be a multi millionaire, but I doubt that he's a billionaire. And, unless his wealth runs well into the hundreds of millions, he can't fund a really promising stadium on his own.

Granted Moïse Katumbi isn't quite that wealthy either (his net worth is about 60 million), yet he built a fine stadium for TP Mazembe. Lagos will need something bigger and a bit more on par with what was built in Uyo, only football-only. So he'll need to add more partners to the ownership or sell shares in the club as it grows, which could help to build it's popularity. Going to Lagos Stadium is an option that I don't really like because, it's a bit too big (which isn't that much of a problem), it's old and in a state of disrepair, it has no roof, and it has a track. I'd actually rather see it knocked down and have a newer football-only stadium built in it's place. 30-40 thousand seats. But I doubt that anyone who wants to make money in the future will build in Surulere. Building close to the Eko Atlantic development would be idea, but buying and redeveloping areas of Lagos isn't something that happens alot and there isn't any space for a stadium currently built into that city's plans. Eko Atlantic is still selling property, so it's not something that couldn't be done while the plans are still able to adjust to involve a stadium, but Ogunsanya by himself doesn't have to funds to buy Eko-priced property; however, his company probably does. Involving the entire wealth of not only Multichoice and DStv Nigeria, but the international partners as well, would make that happen. Let them partner on stadium revenue potential and keep ownership of the club while selling shares for about 35-45% of the club publicly (hell, offer shares to many Nigerian expats living in the US and the UK; even some Nigerians not from Lagos State might be willing to invest in such a forward-thinking project if it showed some initiative already; ie, the stadium would have to already be built or under construction in order to convince them that it isn't a con) and you suddenly have the potential for one of the wealthiest clubs on the continent.

...but that's all just wishful thinking. Possibilities and opportunities. The club's on the ground with promising elements. Hopefully there's some forward thinking rather than just contentment with co-existing.